DoT likely to get over Rs 13,000 cr in FY09 from telcos

The government's revenue from telecom operators in 2008-09 is expected to be more than Rs 13,000 crore, the biggest non-tax income for the exchequer.

The Department of Telecom is expecting to get about Rs 13,000 crore upwards from the service providers as licence fee and spectrum charges, a senior official told PTI today.

The DoT's calculation is based on an estimate of telecom companies earning about Rs 1.25 lakh crore in the said period. Their adjusted gross revenue (exclusive of revenue from non-telecom operations) is put at Rs 95,000 crore and DoT hopes to get 12 per cent (Rs 13,000 crore) of AGR as license fee and spectrum charges.

DoT collects an average of 12 per cent of the total levy (6-10 per cent of license fee depending on circles plus 2-6 per cent spectrum charges depending on the quantum of radio waves).

The official said this is the highest non-tax revenue for the Government of India.

The government has so far earned Rs 55,000 crore over the past five years as telecom licence fee and spectrum charges.

"Licence fees and spectrum charges of over Rs 55,000 crore have been collected since 2003 when the UASL regime came into effect. Every year telecom revenues are growing by about 15 per cent," Telecom Minister A Raja had said last year.

According to DoT's last year estimates, foreign direct investment inflow has gone up from USD 478 million in 2006-07 to USD 1,261 million in 2007-08, higher by 2.5 times.

India continues to be an attractive destination for global telecom operators with all major global operators present through local partners in the country.

A record 15.64 million wireless subscribers were added in March this year and for the first time in two years wireline subscriber-base has increased marginally, indicating an overall growth for the telecom sector.

The total wireless subscriber base (GSM, CDMA and WLL (Fixed)) stood at 391.76 million at the end of March 2009 with the addition of 15.64 million users, according to TRAI.

The total number of telephone connections reached 429.72 million at the end of March with the tele-density (phones per 100 people) touching 36.98. PTI ANA NS